ByFrank Pingue, ReutersFebruary 13, 2014

Sochi, Russia — The United States kicked off their quest for the men's ice hockey gold medal at the Sochi Olympics by sending a clear message to their rivals with a 7-1 rout of Slovakia on Thursday.

The Americans, looking to improve on their silver from the 2010 Games, scored six goals in the second period to snuff out any hopes Slovakia had of pulling off an upset.

"I don't think we expected a 7-1 win but we'll definitely take it for the first game," U.S. captain Zach Parise told reporters."These guys are a pretty tough defensive team for the most part and today we were just able to control the puck well and score on the opportunities we had."

Slovakia, who made an unlikely run to the bronze medal game in 2010, drew level at 1-1 with a goal 24 seconds into the second period when Tomas Tatar took advantage of a turnover in the U.S. zone and sent a shot from in close past netminder Jonathan Quick.

However, they were unable to keep pace with the Americans, who responded with a goal a minute later before pulling away to complete the rout ahead of the intermission.

Two goals from Paul Stastny and one each from Ryan Kesler, David Backes, Phil Kessel and Dustin Brown accounted for the rest of the U.S. scores.

"They were flying, and we couldn't keep up," said Slovakian goalie Peter Budaj, who replaced Halak during the second period."We made some mistakes, especially in the second period, and they made us pay for it."

Flying under the radar with most of the attention on Russia, Sweden and 2010 gold medallists Canada, the United States gave a dazzling offensive display that showed plenty of chemistry for a team that arrived at the Black Sea resort three days ago.

With the always-nervy opening game out of the way, the U.S, squad can now focus on the marquee matchup of the preliminary round, Saturday's game against Russia.

"We know how good they are. They are at home and they will have the whole building on their side and we know that but we are excited about the game," said Parise.

"We're all used to going into tough buildings and playing road games and I think this will be another level but it'll be exciting."

Russia got the Olympic men's ice hockey competition off to a satisfactory start with a 5-2 win over feisty Slovenia on Thursday which did little to improve the host country's gold medal hopes.

Going up against a Slovenian team making their Olympic debut, it was supposed to be a leisurely beginning to the tournament for the mighty Russians whose lineup features some of the world's top talent.

But Slovenia, with just one National Hockey League player on their roster, briefly threatened to pull off the biggest Olympic ice hockey upset since the 1980 Lake Placid 'Miracle on Ice' until Russia showed their class with a third-period burst.

Clinging to a 3-2 lead going into the final period, Valery Nichushkin and Anton Belov scored to put Russia back in charge and settle nerves at the soldout Bolshoy Ice Dome.

Alex Ovechkin, a three-times NHL most valuable player, Evgeny Malkin, another NHL MVP, and Ilya Kovalchuk, whose contracts total over $250 million, had the other Russian goals.

But it was Ziga Jeglic, an unheralded 25-year-old who earns his living in the German league, who stole the spotlight by accounting for both Slovenian goals.

"We started well we got the lead then we stopped playing," Ovechkin told reporters."We tried to make casual moves, when we had a chance to shoot the puck we didn't shoot. We gave them more life."